My Autumn
by badluckfan
Summary: This is a story that I wrote for my friend's site. I had to follow rules for a challenge so here is a VERY BASIC overview of the story. Kind of a CXM fic, and motifs of children, fall, and books. The theme I'm using is Main Land vs Lost Ground.
1. Chapter 1

**My Autumn**

Her ebony hair flew around her as an eruption of autumn colors swirled in the wind. She lifted her right hand and gently pushed back her hair while the other hand grabbed an orange leaf from the air. She looked down at the leaf that she held in her hand. A smile lit her face as her senses took in the atmosphere of fall.

"So, you like the color orange Miss Minori?" Mimori looked up to a familiar orange-haired figure.

"It's Mimori, and yes I do, actually. Well," she paused as she looked around her, " when it's in the leaves."

"As opposed to what exactly?" the Speedster asked.

"I," she quickly covered her mouth as she turned to look up at Cougar, "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that autumn is my favorite season."

Cougar looked at her and smiled. It was nice to hear her speak of something that made her happy.

"Wow, look over there! Is that one of those alters!" someone yelled out.

Cougar and Mimori turned to see a small group of children making no attempt to hide their mixture of curiosity and fear as they stared at the couple. The obnoxious kid who yelled out the comment was pointing straight at Cougar. The uniform always drew attention.

Cougar just ignored the comment, he was used to such things from society. Mimori, however, was bothered.

Se walked up to the group with a smile on her face, the Speedster raised an eyebrow to this.

"Hello, my name is Mimori, what's yours?" The kids all went silent, unsure as to what to do.

"What's the matter? Now I know that you can't all be afraid of me." Mimori said to them, holding her hands out to her sides to signify that she was no one to be afraid of.

All of the children looked towards the obnoxious boy who was obviously the leader of the group. He stepped forward, "My name is Yuji." he responded.

"Well Yuji, how do you feel about alter users?" the Hold worker asked.

"Um... er. Well, all I know is that they have evil powers. They work in HOLD which causes trouble and destruction all the time." Yuji answered, being sure not to make eye contact with her.

"Well, I'm from HOLD, do you think that I am evil?" She asked him.

There was a pause, finally the boy shook his head.

"See, it's bad to stereotype like that. My friend over there is a member of HOLY, but what he does is work to keep the peace, not to disrupt it. Now does he seem so evil?"

Yuji looked at the HOLY member for a moment, obviously trying to take in this new information. "I guess not." he said, he had obviously never really thought about it.

"Well, that's enough for today. You kids had better get going home to your books, it's a school night." With that Mimori turned and walked back over to Cougar.

The Speedster was speechless, which never happened, as he stood there with his mouth gaped open. She looked up at him, "What's the matter?"

He looked down at her, "Why did you do that?" he asked her.

The HOLD worker was surprised, she hadn't expected such a simple question.

"I just can't stand it when people make such assumptions about alters, especially when they teach their children their misconceptions. I just want to teach them the truth." there was a fire in her eyes as she gave her explanation.

"Well, it looks like you have a lot of work cut out for you then." The HOLY member said as he put on his pink shades. The sun caught the lenses and sent a quick glare across them, which helped to add to his all-knowing mystery.

HOLY wasn't as busy as they had been the last few months. Things on the Lost Ground always quieted down in the fall and spring.

"I don't like the fall at all." Urizani said as he absentmindedly used his fork to make shapes in his mashed potatoes, "there's never anything to do."

"I know what you mean," Azuka replied as he continued to roll the peas around on his plate.

"What do you mean? I thought you were going to hang out with Cammy?" Urizani asked, looking up from his now mashed potatoes and gravy volcano.

"Not so much lately. School's started and she helps teach kids how to read in the afternoons."

"Hey guys," Elion said unenthusiastically, he was greeted with an even less enthusiastic "hey" from the two.

"It seems to me that you all need to find something constructive to spend your time on," a voice behind them said. Sherise was also coming to join the others at the table, tray in hand.

"Brilliant deduction there Einstein," Urizani said, emphasizing the sarcasm, "and I suppose you know of something to do?"

"As a matter of fact I do," the blue-haired girl said as she set down her tray.

The three guys suddenly looked attentive, greedy for anything new, "There's a group of international students coming to tour the Lost Ground."

"What do you mean? They don't let tourist groups into the Lost Ground," Elion said,

suddenly disappointed.

"Well, this isn't any tourist group," she responded, "it's the children of the world's elite, coming here to 'observe the alters'."

"What's so interesting about that then?" Urizani asked, beginning to become irritated.

"Think about it, something this big is ganna spread across the Lost Ground fast. I wouldn't put it past the Native Alter Users to try to pull something." Azuka said, answering the watermelon-loving alter's question.

"Exactly." Sherise added.

"Hey Kazuma, I just caught wind of something big!" Kimishima said as he crawled through the window of the old clinic.

"Oh ya, how much? And don't you ever use the door!" Kazuma yelled at his friend from the doctor's seat.

"I'm not sure exactly, but the pay's big." Kimishima said, finally making his way in.

"Oh ya? Well what have you go this time?"

"A field trip."

"A wa..?"

"A field trip. A plane load of the children of the elite are coming to the Lost Ground."

"Children? And what do you expect me to do!"

"Calm down. It's not like I'm asking you to put anyone in danger, but what you do need to do is send a message to the main land."

"And the pay's big?"

"Yes already!"

"Okay, so when does this plane arrive?"


	2. Chapter 2

"The plane with the young elitists arrives today. I want you to make sure that there are no problems while they are here." Commander Zigmarl said as sat at his desk looking up at Ryuho.

"Yes Sir, I understand completely." The green haired alter user said, and with that walked out of the office.

"Ryuho!" the sound of running steps came up behind him, Scheris came up to his side.

She could never help herself from wanting to be near him.

"We should be preparing for the welcoming ceremony." Ryuho said, still looking forward. They stepped outside, he stopped for a second, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Scheris asked looking perplexed.

Ryuho blinked, "nothing," and he continued walking.

Scheris looked around and her eyes narrowed in on two individuals. Cougar and Mimori were laughing as they walked past all of the red and orange piles of leaves. Her face turned crimson, Scheris could never stand the fact that Ryuho and Mimori had been friends in childhood. She always hoped that Mimori would finally get with Cougar, maybe then Ryuho would forget about her.

The rich colors of autumn were strong all around and seemed to make the happy pair stand out all the more.

"You really did that?" Mimori asked the Speedster, holding her sides from laughter. Cougar too, was laughing, "ya, but that was a long time ago."

Mimori looked down at her watch, "Oh, you had better get going to the ceremony," she said, finally finding her composure. "I have to finish some paperwork and then I'll be there too, I'll see you there."Mimori said with a smile as she turned to go back to the HOLD building.

"Wait," Cougar said, grabbing her hand. Mimori turned to face him with a questioning look on her face as she looked up at him.

"I..." he paused for a moment, "I never thanked you for earlier."

"Oh," Mimori's expression suddenly became tender, as a warm smile lit her face, "you're welcome."

Cougar sat for a moment longer, looking down into her chestnut eyes. He stood there mystified, it felt almost as if he could see her soul. A beautiful light which was so precious to him.

"Um," Mimori blushed, "Cougar..."

Cougar smiled and looked away, releasing her hand. He took a step back and gave a deep bow, "Thank you for a lovely morning. I hope to see you at the ceremony." With that he stood up, turned, and walked away.

The scientist stood there watching as the distance between them grew.

"What just happened?" She thought to herself.

Everyone was in place for the ceremony, and everything had to be perfect. This wasn't just a bunch of rich kids coming to look around, this visit put the prestige of HOLD on the line. To commander Zigmarl each of the young elitist was an embassador and needed to be treated as such. The red carpet was rolled out in front of the plane to greet them. On either side were crowds of people. At the end of the carpet was the commander and behind him were the members of HOLY all standing at attention.

The doors of the plane opened, as the crowd stood in silence. After the minutes passed by, a figure finally emerged. Now, this was purely for effect, but it seemed as if the tension held in the air any longer that there might have been a collapse or two under the stress.

The clanking sound that the figure made as her black heels hit each and every step as she descended added a vibration to the still air. She approached the podium. She couldn't have been more then nineteen years of age, her platinum blonde hair was bound with just a few stray curls that framed her face. Her posture was graceful, she was wearing a black dress suit. The skirt came down to just below her knees, and the jacket went over a silk cream tee. The whole thing looked like a manakin from the front window of Bloomingdale.

"Hello..."

Her greeting was cut off when a large slamming sound triggered screams from the crowd. A car from god knows where fell from the sky and hit the seemed with such intensity that it not only blew the car up but it cracked the cement below it.

All of the members of HOLY took the defensive stance, the laughing of an obviously amused native alter rose. As the smoke subsided you could see a struggling form. The young girl was horrified as the native held her in with his strong grip.

Ryuho stepped forward, "I should have never put it past you to pull a stunt like this, NP3228."

"Hahaha, you're right, you shouldn't have. And the name's... Kazuma!" he screamed as he jumped up into the air with the girl in his hands. He landed in a car that sped beneath to catch him. The vehicle sped towards a hole in the wall that was still dripping from being turned to water.

Cougar jumped into the nearest car, it glowed with a pink brilliance as it turned into a machine meant for speed. The speedster shot towards the hole, but just as he was about to go through a large bolder hit the earth, blocking his exit. He quickly turned the wheel and the car spun.

Ryuho stopped in front of it. His eyes were filled with a flame, "KAZUMA!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kazuma laid the young elitist down on a couch in Kimishima's house. She had fainted soon after he had taken her, making it a lot easier to carry her since she was no longer thrashing around and screaming.

"Okay, so _why_ exactly did we bring her to my place?" Kimishima asked, a little annoyed.

"HOLD already knows where I live, and so where else is there?" Kazuma responded, "Plus, _I_ didn't even know where you live until now, so there isn't much chance of them finding us here."

"Hey, are you boys hungry? Kanami and I were thinking about making some dinner." Ayase told the two friends.

"Um…" began Kimishima, as he began rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous habit, "I don't have any food here, I usually just eat out."

"That's not a problem," replied Kanami's small voice, "I brought some meat and fresh vegetables from the farm on the way over."

Just then they heard a moan come from you young woman on the couch. She began to sit up, and appeared to be a little disoriented.

She then looked around her, and after a moment her eyes focused on Kazuma, "It's you!" she yelled at, pointing accusingly at him.

"Hey now," he said, "it's not very polite to point, someone from your class in society should know that."

"And it's not very polite to go kidnapping people either, even someone of _your class_ should know that!" she yelled, "What is it that you want, money?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kimishima, as his eyes lit from the very idea of how much money her return would be worth.

"No," said Kazuma, annoyed at his friend's greediness, "you are here as our tool for negotiations, nothing else."

"Negotiations for what? What else is there that you could possibly want?"

"For the elite of the world to leave the Lost Ground alone."

"Are you really that ignorant that you object so much to a group coming to simply study how life is here?"

"Ha!" Kimishima scoffed, "That lame story may work with the idiots up at HOLD, but it isn't going to work here."

"What do you mean by that?!" the young woman asked, offended.

"You know exactly what it means!" Kazuma yelled, irritated at her trying to make the visit sound like it was just some innocent trip. "We know what happens to the altars that have been brought down to the main land, and we know what you intend to do here."

She didn't respond, but just turned and looked out the window.


End file.
